Timely hitting, and clutch pitching paid huge dividends for Allen Community College’s softball team Sunday.
The Red Devils struck early and late to knock off visiting Seward County Sunday, outscoring Seward 12-9 in the opener.
Then, Bailee Campbell smacked a two-out grand slam home run to break a 2-2 deadlock in the finale, a 6-2 Allen victory.
“Today went really well,” Allen head coach Nicole Peters said. “We played to our level. The first game almost got away from us a little bit. But we came back and did the work.”
Allen ripped off 15 hits in the opener, including a five-run fourth inning to extend a 3-1 lead.
Seward bounced back with a six-run fifth to pull to within 8-7, but ACC scored once in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take control.
There were several hitting stars.
Madisyn Hovenstein went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, while Campbell had three singles and a pair of RBIs. Jena Hendrix added two hits and three RBIs.
Brooklyn Goehring added a double and two RBIs. Morgan Collins singled and doubled. Camrynn Yardley, Hayley Gerberding, Abby Marsh and Kaylee Spreer also singled.
Yardley pitched into the fifth inning, striking out five and allowing six hits. Abby Marsh came on to slam the door, scattering three hits over 2.3 innings of work.
“Cam did really well early on in game one,” Peters said. “Abby came on in relief and definitely kept them off balance.”
COLLINS toed the pitching rubber for game two, and bounced back after Seward inched ahead 2-0.
But she slammed the door in the top of the fourth after Seward loaded the bases with one out.
That set the table for Campbell’s bases-clearing blast in the bottom of the inning.
“A game like this is great for Morgan,” Peters said. “She’s so hard on herself. For her to come out and get through it, showed how she’s grown as a player. And that was a big hit for Bailee.”
Campbell also doubled, while Ashley Tribble went 3-for-3 with a double. Goehring singled twice.
Collins singled, as did Yardley. Kylar Smith singled twice with an RBI.
